The present invention relates generally to a telephone apparatus having a display and push-buttons for actuating various telephone features. More specifically, the present invention relates to a telephone apparatus which automatically acquires, converts, analyzes, stores, and retrieves information or data transmitted over telephone lines, and which also performs automatic data processing and data transmission of the data or information. The apparatus may be integrated with a telephone or may be utilized as an add-on device for a conventional telephone.
Telephone companies provide many extra and useful subscriber features in addition to providing conventional voice communication between users. One such feature is the "Caller Identification" service which sends the number and/or name of a calling party together with the incoming call. Information processing circuitry in the telephone set, usually comprising a micro-processor unit (MPU) and a memory, is employed to show the caller's number and/or phone number on a suitable display. Some telephone terminals are further provided with circuitry for comparing the number of a calling party with stored information, and for classifying the call as either "wanted" or "rejected." When the call is classified as "wanted," a special ringing tone is provided to alert the user of the call. When the call is classified as "rejected," the number is displayed. An alert indicator may also be used to indicate the presence of a "rejected" incoming call.
Another type of subscriber feature involves the use of "Special Service Codes"(SSC) for performing a variety of special service functions offered by a particular telephone company. The range of special service functions typically offered by telephone companies includes, but is not limited to, "Call-Forward," "Camp-On Busy," "Call Trace," and "Conference." Usually, the user initiates a special service function by pressing one or more keys at the subscriber terminal which causes the microprocessor to send the SSC to the telephone switching network from the subscriber terminal.
State-of-the-art telephone terminals or add-on devices are available to fully take advantage of such subscriber features. An example of such a device is disclosed in co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/162,910, incorporated here by reference. This device greatly simplifies the pre-storing, retrieving and dialing of large numbers of special service codes.
However, in many countries, the number of SSC's defined by the various telephone companies is too great to be conveniently pre-stored in such a device. The different providers of local telephone service often have their own set of SSC's. Therefore, pre-storing all the possible SSC's for a given country or region into a single unit requires a device having a large memory capacity. Furthermore, when so many codes are stored in the device, it is not generally convenient for the user to later access a desired SSC for his/her use. It would be very convenient, therefore, to have only the SSC's which are suitable for the particular telephone service provider to which the subscriber terminal is attached, transmitted and down-loaded to the subscriber terminal via ordinary telephone lines (as a service provided by a phone company), or to any other service center by specific transmitter devices.